Demar Derozan Forget How to Dunk?

I don't know about you guys but lately, I cant help but feel underwhelmed by the dunks that derozan has been putting down. I don't know if its because I'm comparing him to the athletic monsta that is Tross (which really shouldnt be a problem considering I read a post a couple weeks ago where most of us, myself included, agreed that derozan is "more talented" as a dunker than ross) but the other day during the bobcats game he got a steal and a fast break and put down what was in my opinion the most boring two handed dunk he could think of. Now im sorry but when I see stuff like that i cant help but think back to the night we drafted him and the tweet he wasted no time posting claiming that "air canada is back." Now who knows, maybe he was referring to the airline's increase in stock market value, but personally I thought he meant that we were in for a few years of jaw-dropping highlights. Dont get me wrong, its not to say that derozan hasnt made his fair share of espn highlights over the years (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MClaYOFGHCs) but i feel like since he got the contract he hasnt been as concerned with pleasing the ACC crowd as he used to be. Hey maybe Im reading too much into this.. but i think jack armstrong agreed with me when he said "enh he couldve done better than that." And jeez when Tross put down that insane tomahawk and jack said "Demar derozan! THATS what im talking about!" I almost spilt my drink cause I was laughing so hard. Basically what im trying to say is, i think derozan needs to get back to his pre-contract athletic antics that got him favoured by reggie miller to win the dunk contest a couple years back. What do you guys think?

It's funny how some fans manage to care about eterntainment but not performance... All this enternainment stuff, pizzas, incredibly bad time for booing, cheering mostly on highlight plays is ugly. He can dunk, and that's enough to know and discuss, imo.

DeMar is in his 4th year no need for a ancy dunk on a fast break he and the team are concerened with making every point count and getting back into the playoff race Casey isnt a coach that loves high risk fancy plays.

Leave the showmanship to the rookies who are trying to make a name for themselves #letRossDunk

Well I dunno what any of that stuff has to do with what i just said but it seems youre forgetting professional sports is a business. At the end of the day performance is the most important thing but NBA players are also entertainers. If I watch a raptors game yes I want to see a win but if you have a fast break and are the most athletic player on the team, im sorry but I want you to put a show on, sue me.

DeMar is in his 4th year no need for a ancy dunk on a fast break he and the team are concerened with making every point count and getting back into the playoff race Casey isnt a coach that loves high risk fancy plays.

Leave the showmanship to the rookies who are trying to make a name for themselves #letRossDunk

Oh is it the 4th year that players stop having to entertain fans? Oh ok. Well imo you wouldn't be saying that if it were VC in his 4th year putting down weak two handers, but enh. Imagine lebron all of a sudden stopped making the highlights, tell me you'd be fine with that

Oh is it the 4th year that players stop having to entertain fans? Oh ok. Well imo you wouldn't be saying that if it were VC in his 4th year putting down weak two handers, but enh. Imagine lebron all of a sudden stopped making the highlights, tell me you'd be fine with that

Umm....clearly you didn't watch VC play then, because he scaled back his dunks a lot by that time. Sure maybe he occasionally through a windmill or something, but he also really often put soft dunks in when he would be out on his own. And really, most guys do stop that crap after they've been in the league a couple of years. First off, it's embarrassing to miss a dunk if you try to do something. Check out Lance Stephenson who even didn't try anything special, but just tried to make a hard dunk from too far and failed miserably...courtesy of this week's Shaqtin a fool. Even Ross in the postgame interview on that windmill dunk, said he just didn't want to miss it because that would be embarrassing.

I mean, guys don't want to waste the energy, or miss the dunk. Also sometimes it can even give the other team a spark, a little chip to want to play harder. So yeah, I think guys learn to do it less and try to do it when they know it'll be positive.

I don't care about fancy dunks on break-aways, but I would like to see him try to dunk over guys when going to the basket. He seems hesitant to take it in hard sometimes and those end up being the plays where he's probably fouled but doesn't get the call. I thought as his strength increased and he could absorb more contact we'd see more of this, but we haven't.

Umm....clearly you didn't watch VC play then, because he scaled back his dunks a lot by that time. Sure maybe he occasionally through a windmill or something, but he also really often put soft dunks in when he would be out on his own. And really, most guys do stop that crap after they've been in the league a couple of years. First off, it's embarrassing to miss a dunk if you try to do something. Check out Lance Stephenson who even didn't try anything special, but just tried to make a hard dunk from too far and failed miserably...courtesy of this week's Shaqtin a fool. Even Ross in the postgame interview on that windmill dunk, said he just didn't want to miss it because that would be embarrassing.

I mean, guys don't want to waste the energy, or miss the dunk. Also sometimes it can even give the other team a spark, a little chip to want to play harder. So yeah, I think guys learn to do it less and try to do it when they know it'll be positive.

Hmm makes sense. And youre right that would be embarrassing cause no one wants to be on shaqs blooper reels. The point remains though it wouldnt kill him to put a little flair into his dunk I mean its not like I'm asking for a 360 off the glass here.

Today's game in Milwaukee. DeRozan had a chance to to go hard and dunk the ball late in the 4th, but he tried to lay it in instead. Result? his shot got blocked by Sanders. Bucks got the ball on transition, Dunleavy hit a 3. GAME OVER.

I hate to say this again, but DeRozan is pretty SOFT.

"Analytics DON'T work at all. It's some crap that people that are really smart made up to get in the game. Bunch of smart guys who have never played. The NBA is about TALENT" - Charles Barkley #Truth

Today's game in Milwaukee. DeRozan had a chance to to go hard and dunk the ball late in the 4th, but he tried to lay it in instead. Result? his shot got blocked by Sanders. Bucks got the ball on transition, Dunleavy hit a 3. GAME OVER....

Only reason to dunk, outside of the dunk contest. Why take a chance of using energy, getting hurt, missing a sure basket. Winning basketball is all the entertainment I need.

I don't know if it's grossly overrated, but definitely a bit. His leaping is because as Matt said, he doesn't have explosiveness in that last step. He has very good all around athleticism, where pretty much everything about it is above average, but nothing really sticks out.

Today's game in Milwaukee. DeRozan had a chance to to go hard and dunk the ball late in the 4th, but he tried to lay it in instead. Result? his shot got blocked by Sanders. Bucks got the ball on transition, Dunleavy hit a 3. GAME OVER.

I hate to say this again, but DeRozan is pretty SOFT.

I call BS. Not dunking doesn't necessarily mean he's soft. And it's absurd to call him soft for not trying to dunk it (which maybe was also a mental lapse, maybe he didn't have the momentum as well, who knows) in a game where he gets to the line 10 times. Demar, while it may be fair to say is a bit of an overrated athlete, is a pretty tough player. He has pretty consistently tried to keep scoring in the paint since he came into the league. He takes so many hard hits going in, and he never stops. He gets to the line a lot, and probably takes the biggest beating out of any non-big on the team. He's WAY tougher than Vince ever was, for instance, even though Vince dunked over people more.

I don't know if it's grossly overrated, but definitely a bit. His leaping is because as Matt said, he doesn't have explosiveness in that last step. He has very good all around athleticism, where pretty much everything about it is above average, but nothing really sticks out.

It's all semantics, I suppose.

When I watch DeRozan, I see a player who (like you said), lacks finishing explosiveness, isn't the fastest sprinter, can't change direction quickly, and lacks the hand-eye coordination to use his dribble as a weapon. IMO, these are all characteristics of athleticism that are below average for a starting shooting guard.